Concussion
by Aneeta Potter
Summary: A concussion is the least of Rory's problems when he wakes up in an empty corridor, the back of his head covered in blood. He can hardly remember what happened, he's having trouble keeping the door in his mind shut, his dad is wondering around somewhere and the Doctor and Amy are missing. Luckily there's a sword nearby...


**I don't own this, or any of the characters. This takes place after 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship', but before Amy, Rory and Brian are returned home. I hope you like it. **

Concussion 

When Rory first wakes up he is convinced he is back in Rome; not the real Rome, naturally, but the one he lived through. Well, sort of lived through – he isn't sure if you should count being a plastic soldier as actually living. Except, for him, it was all real and fairly recent.

Usually Rory has a sort of mental block that keeps out the two thousand years of waiting. But the apparent blow to the head (judging by the throbbing around the back of his scull) and consequent unconsciousness has caused him to let his guard down. While he gets his thoughts together he is the Last Centurion, guardian of the Pandorica; waiting through the ages for his love, as though he were the namesake of some tragic play.

For what seems like hours but is probably only minutes, images flash up across Rory's mind. The human mind is not made for all of his memories, or at least his mind isn't. It just can't cope. Eventually he manages to push the Last Centurion back behind the door in his head, and opens his eyes.

He is lying in a corridor. Typical. The walls are painted a nasty beige colour and the carpeted floor is a similar shade. The only splash of colour is a dark crimson stain against the carpet, which he quickly realises is his blood. He touches the back of his head and finds his hair sticky and matted. He guesses he was whacked with something heavy from behind. Straining to remember what happened produces a fuzzy image of Amy screaming and a flash of pain. He wonders who left him here, alone, in a corridor.

After another minute he manages to sit up, stomach rolling and head pounding. The knock in the head hasn't done him much good, and the nurse part of him suggests concussion. He needs rest. But the nurse part of Rory isn't strong enough to overcome his love for Amy – and she isn't here. Which means Rory has to go and find her. Concussion or no concussion. It's the way of their relationship; not that he'd tell Amy that, because she would probably bite his head off at the suggestion that she needs saving frequently.

Rory staggers into a roughly upright position, and starts to walk forwards along the corridor. He lets his hands run along the smooth wall as he walks, using it to support himself. God he feels dizzy. Eventually he manages to make it to the door at the end of the corridor. It slides open on his approach, so at least he doesn't have to push it.

When he sees what lies beyond he is initially frustrated. The room is a dead end, and nobody (more importantly no Amy) is inside. But then he catches sight of the piles of weapons, and things start to look up. Since the three of them were clearly attacked, he decides to do some attacking of his own. There are some strange looking guns that don't appear to have a trigger; he leaves those since he isn't quite sure how they work, and he never really liked guns much anyway (although the one in his hand was pretty useful). Instead, he takes a sword.

The sword feels good in his hand. It's the right weight, and he can tell it's sharper than the one he used to use. He adjusts his grip, and it feels even better. He hasn't held a sword since Demon's run, but he knows he won't ever forget how to handle one. When he was training to be a soldier (although, of course, that wasn't real – just part of his implanted memories) they used to repeat drills so often that he used to dream of them in his sleep. He kept up his training while he was waiting, and that reinforced his skill. So no forgetting.

With the sword in his hand, he feels less dizzy. He lets the self-assurance of Rory the Roman bleed through into his mind (although he isn't quite sure he's doing it on purpose), and moves back through the corridor. He's had worse than a knock on the head –being shot by a Silurian, for example.

There are three doors at the other end of the corridor. He impulsively chooses the one straight ahead, because it's as good as the other two. The person behind the door is not who he had expected. It takes him almost ten seconds to recognise his dad – for some reason he's finding remembering things difficult. Apart from the two thousand years as a soldier – he can remember that just fine. What the hell is going on?

When he finally identifies his dad, Rory resists the urge to groan out loud. As much as he loves his father, Brian is not really the person he would pick to be in this kind of situation with. He wonders why on Earth his father is here, then remembers. They were supposed to be going straight home after the dinosaurs on a spaceship situation, when the TARDIS got a little side tracked. Brian agreed to stay in the TARDIS while Amy, Rory and the Doctor checked out whatever was outside. He knew they should have just moved on, and gone home.

Rory realises he's gotten side-tracked with trying to remember how he got into this strange predicament when he refocuses on his dad. Brian is not staring at him, or the blood covering his head and shoulders. No. He's looking at the sword – because, naturally, the human eye is drawn straight to the possible threat.

"What in heaven's name are you holding, Rory? You could poke someone's eye out with that thing!" Brian exclaims.

"That's the general idea." Rory points out.

"I mean by accident; I'm very attached to my eyes." Brian chastises, as though Rory were seven again.

"I know how to handle a sword, dad." Rory says, as though this is obvious (it should be by the way he's holding it).

"Since when?" Brian looks suspicious.

"Since I was a Roman." Rory hisses. He can hear footsteps, heavy footsteps, so he puts his finger on his lips to get his dad to keep quiet. The two of them press into an alcove in the room, and wait.

A man walks in from a door straight ahead, and walks past the alcove. Luckily he doesn't see them. Rory isn't sure that he wants to use his sword just yet. Once the man has gone, the two of them resume the conversation. Brian has finally noticed Rory is covered in blood. Just great. At least it's made him forget the Roman comment.

"Are you bleeding?" Brian asks, as though he isn't sure.

"Yes dad. It's just a little knock on the head. Head wounds bleed a lot." Rory reassures. He's a nurse at heart, and he knows how to keep people calm.

"What happened to you?" Brian questions.

"I don't know. I think Amy and the Doctor were taken, and I got bashed on the head. I don't know why they left me behind. I thought you were staying in the TARDIS?"

"You were gone for ages, so I thought I'd pop out and look for you." Brian explains.

"Can you go back?" Rory asks rather desperately, because quite honestly this conversation is making his head throb even more.

"Not exactly. I…uhhh… got a bit lost." Brian admits.

"Great." Rory mutters sarcastically, because it's clear the universe _loves _him today, "Okay, stick with me."

"Lead the way then." Brian declares.

A while later, after wondering through a combination of rooms and corridors and ducking into alcoves whenever people pass, they hear noises coming from up ahead. Rory feels an enormous sense of relief when he hears Amy's voice – she's okay, now he just has to keep her that way. He moves up to the door, sword at the ready. It slides open.

Inside is clearly the central room of the ship. There are computers and control panels, and a large window revealing the darkness of space and a planet below. Amy and the Doctor are standing up against the wall, hands cuffed behind some pipes. The Doctor is standing slightly lopsidedly, as though he's hurt, but Amy looks fine. There are five other people, standing with their backs to the door. All of them are armed with swords, although one also has a gun. None of them have noticed Rory and Brian's entrance, and they continue with their conversation. While Amy and the Doctor can see them, they don't give anything away.

"I've given you plenty of chances, Doctor." The man with the gun, who is standing directly in front of Rory, smirks.

"No, I've given you plenty." The Doctor says sadly. Then the man points the gun at the Doctor. A jet of light shoots out and hits the Doctor in the chest. The Doctor writhes in pain and moans, but doesn't scream. The light ends, and the Doctor sags down, breathing heavily.

"You're getting better." He comments. He doesn't sound angry, just sorrowful, "The psychic interface needs a bit of anger, I suppose."

"I am definitely getting angry." The man sneers, and moves the gun up again. But before he can fire, Rory whacks him from behind with the blunt end of his sword. The man crumples, and his gun clatters against the floor. Rory kicks it away, to keep it out of play, then raises his sword against the other four men, who have all drawn their own swords.

"Just put them down." Rory says, trying to sound intimidating, "Nobody needs to get hurt. We can all walk away from this."

"There are four of us, and two of you. So I suggest you put your sword down." One of the men says with a grin. "Who's the old guy behind you, your dad? He's not even armed!"

"Brian, back away." The Doctor says, looking serious. Brian listens, moving backwards into an alcove. He looks scared, probably wondering what they can do. Now it's just Rory against four armed men, who all look exceedingly confident. Rory blinks slowly, because the room seems to be tipping forwards and backwards, and blurring and un-blurring.

"I warned you." Rory says, stumbling over his words slightly. He staggers slightly, which the men take as a cue to attack. The four of them charge at him.

The next few minutes are a rush of swords clattering, feints, dodging and rolling. At the very start Rory feels like he's going to be sick, but then he forgets about the blow to the head and feels stronger. He forgets about other things too, like how to speak English. All he thinks about is the sword, and Amy. He is a soldier of Rome, and a swordsman, and waiting. His childhood in Rome and the drills and the marching and the pride of becoming a Centurion are all he remembers. That and Amy. He could never forget Amy.

He stops abruptly. All four of the men are on the floor. They are no longer a threat. Then there is a blinding pain in his head and he sinks to the ground. He hears Amy calling his name before he drifts away.

What seems like seconds later, but is probably longer, Rory opens his eyes again. Somehow, he is on the TARDIS. Amy is squeezing his hand and the Doctor is standing over him, looking oddly apologetic. He glances upwards and spots his dad standing a little while away.

"Rory…" The Doctor says quietly. "Do you know where you are?"

"Yeah…" Rory says slowly, "On the TARDIS. Unless there is some other bigger on the inside spaceship that we travel in…"

"He's back." The Doctor says with a smile at Amy. She looks relieved.

"Back from where?" Rory asks.

"Doctor. Explain." Amy commands.

"When we were walking around the ship, we were attacked. They hit you on the back of the head pretty hard, and knocked you unconscious. I used the sonic screwdriver to mess with their equipment before they took Amy and me away, so they thought you were dead. They left you there for clean-up to deal with later."

"That doesn't explain where I'm back from." Rory says, looking confused.

"You were hit really hard." The Doctor sighs. "You had a concussion that made it hard for you to focus, and you let one of your _other_ lives come through too much. When you had the fight with our captors, you essentially became the Last Centurion. You were muttering in Latin while we carried you back to the TARDIS."

"That doesn't make sense… It's not like I have multiple personality disorder." Rory says, confused. "I always remember all of my lives, or at least parts of them."

"The concussion just messed with your head a bit. But we gave you some medicine that I had lying around here, to clean that up. It shouldn't happen again… unless you get hit on the head I suppose." The Doctor explained.

"Nice swordsmanship son." Brian adds, from behind. "And impressive Latin. Can you do those things all the time, or just when you've been hit on the head?"

"All of the time." Rory admits. "Who were those people? And why were they so aggressive?" He asks, changing the subject.

"They were about to bomb a colony of humans that they thought was responsible for a faulty batch of medicine that killed a lot of people. The colony accidently got the drugs they were selling contaminated, and the children of some of the people on that ship died. When they took us to their control room to meet the boss, I used the sonic to wipe their codes so they couldn't fire. That's why he was so mad – he wanted me to put them back. It's a good thing that you came along when you did." The Doctor looks sad again, and Rory realises that he is probably grieving for their losses, not for the pain they caused him. "They were on the run from anti-terrorist police, so I just dropped their spaceship near headquarters."

"Did I kill any of them?" Rory asks, not sure if he wants to know the answer. Even though it was self-defence, he can't help but feel guilty.

"No." The Doctor says shortly. Rory can tell he's lying, but doesn't challenge. He doesn't want to know.

"Enough chit chat, Centurion." Amy commands. "You need to rest."

"No I don't…" Rory begins, because he feels absolutely fine now, but then he sees Amy's expression.

"I'll take you to our bedroom." Amy says with a secret smile flashed in his direction. "You can sleep there."

She supports him as he walks, even though he doesn't need the help. He grins when they're out of sight, because if there's one thing that Amy likes, it's Rory with a sword. And he doesn't think she wants him to sleep.

"You are so hot right now." She whispers in his ear, and his grin gets wider. Now he isn't worrying about the ridiculous number of lives in his head, or the fact that if he gets a concussion he starts to speak Latin – because he has Amy with him.

In all of his lives, Amy is all he ever needs.

**Thanks for reading! Please leave a review, it would really be appreciated. **


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